This invention generally pertains to technology for automatically setting a motor-driven toy vehicle to four-wheel-drive mode when the toy is powered on and to freewheel mode when the toy is powered off.
Motor-driven toy vehicles are often of limited use because the motor is always engaged with the wheels. The toy is useful when power is available and the wheels move as directed. When power is not available, however, the motor resists movement of the vehicle's wheels. Thus, it is difficult to push the vehicle when powered off and pushing the vehicle may damage the motor, the wheels, or the gear train(s) connecting the motor to the wheels.
There are various approaches to selectively disengaging the motor from the gear train(s) or the gear train(s) from the wheels to enable a freewheel mode of operation. A novel approach is described and claimed herein.